GoDaddy terminating fast transfer inclusions over Afternic for any of Epik’s customers

I thought Godaddy was publicly traded with ticker GDDY.

 

@Dynadot and @namesilo have a plus in they are a SEDO MLS Partner and Afternic Fast Transfer Partner. Yes there are others that are in both too, but these 2 generally have prices closest to EPIK but currently only if you reach their annual limits. While I love EPIK, and have always had good support with them, I have to be business wise to and I want my names to have greatest amount of eyes on them. So if this doesn't get resolved I may need to move over. If there was a Dynadot or NameSilo promo giving SuperBulk pricing or EPIK's level of domainer pricing for 1 year to those moving 100 plus names over as a Black Friday Promo. I may transfer 100 names early to lock in pricing, and keep it as I move more domains over in the next few months Sucks since I just renewed several hundred in July - October.

 

CAN SOMEBODY SIMPLY IN PLAIN WORDS EXPLAIN WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON (thinking you are talking to a newbie in the above things))

I didn't use these things for selling domains, but what in the future I want to ?
What are Sedo MLS, Afternic, and EPIK eactly offering and what exactly is going on ??? (the discussion).
(I'm no a newbie in domaining but I am a newbie in selling much, for several personal reasons. As this may change I have to know how I get the most exposure through searches of domainnames, with results where a domain of yours appears at a certain extention, with the price etc...).
And last but not least : what have Godaddy, Namesilo and DDOT for role in the discussion at hand (so not the personal PPproblems i have) ? about Afternic and Epik. (and how has that to do anything with the election of Joe Biden as new president of the US ?)


I HAVE A TOTAL OTHER question also - personal Problem with PayPal I have (frozen accounts and frozen money on 1 of them -note- I still have to go in appeal in writing to Paypal -only phoned them twice about it end last year -but not US). Maybe I'm wurrying for nothing, but I hope it gets resolved. The money AND new Payalaccount. Many years I bought domains here on NP and it' nearly always is Paypal to be used. And I'm sick of it because PPAL has a kinda monopoly on little transactions (overseas (I'm from Europe). Several times I didn't buy something here at Namepros last year because I see in an auction "Paypal within 24 hours or 72 hours, to close the deal. And only PP gives that. Once there was moneybookers also....
(And DAN.com : Can somebody explain how this can be used to "pay somebody even if you have no PayPapalacccount running for the moment)

The currently problems with Paypal have something to do with the fact that I had two Paypal accounts at PP and that is not allowed they said through the phone and blocked me 'for life' they say and froze 800 USD a year ago. Hope I get resolved that, by appealing, or making a lot of noise, but I hope I get is resolved staying polite : if anybody knows how, please PM me).
On Youtube I see videos of people who got the same problem with Paypal; with lots of more money , and in the comments of these videos there ere explanations : Contact this or that hacker, and he'll get your money back, but I find this not the preferrable thing to do, because, I don't want to stop domaining. I want my money back and at least 1 working Paypalaccount.

@Sufyan Alani @Gube
@Makise @Bob Hawkes
@stub @GILSAN @Steve Andersen @Joe Styler @Dynadot @namesilo @Rob Monster

 

I'm not working for Epik anymore, I'll try to make this answer as neutral as possible

Basically, MLS stands for "Multiple listing service" so when you list a domain on Afternic MLS or Sedo MLS your domains appear on many domain registrars directly and if it sells, you don't have to worry about the transfer, it's done automatically for you.
Epik was banned by Afternic from their platform, within weeks, it won't be possible to list domains at Epik on Afternic MLS (with fast transfer), only standard listings. And these get less visibility (less registrars show these standard listings)

GoDaddy owns Afternic. And Namesilo & Dynadot both have Afternic MLS and Sedo MLS (to list names, but also buy them, both directions possible)

When companies get into politics, it can get difficult to follow. I can't really explain that part as I don't think it should have ever been politicized. I know they supported the side that "lost the election" but that's it.

If you have a credit card (not linked to a banned paypal account), you can likely pay there with your credit card using paypal, but not the wisest decision for them as they may loose a bit on fees

Good luck with paypal though, the best tip about that is to never leave money there and always withdraw to your linked bank account

 

Thanks this clears a bit things up : ANYONE ELSE : CERTAINLY ABOUT THE PAYPAL-issue

 

Thanks for pointing out the sedo mls and afternic mls. I been doing some transfers to namecheap, people got bad things to say about them too, but I was hooked up in chat instantly the other day and the lady was so kind to even instal my ssl certificate.
If we had a best registrar of 2020 poll now and not way back before, I would move my vote to namecheap from namesilo
https://www.namecheap.com/about/pre...cess_to_over_19_million_high-quality_domains/
Have a great black friday!
Stay on topic, I hope epik gets things resolved as they do have a pretty awesome set up, some very valuable resources

 

I just thought to myself today what a BAD timing it is to lose both PayPal and Afternic Fast Transfer right before the Black Friday - Cyber Monday craze when it is so tempting and so easy to use a great deal to transfer away.

 

A Season of Thanksgiving

At some point over the past several years, our paths would have crossed, and our domain registrar would have provided services to you for one or more domain names you still might own. With so much uncertainty in the world today, our staff members wanted to reach out and share our deep appreciation for being part of our story. We know that the quality of our lives can be greatly impacted by the depth of thankfulness we each hold in our heart. It may even be one of the secrets of life, that elevates future experiences, and transforms them into something far greater. For whatever you may be facing, know that you are loved, never alone, and that we are thankful for the journey we shared together. From all of us at Epik, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving, and hope that the coming holidays will be both merry and full of good fortune.

To celebrate the season, we have extended discounts and special savings on more than 150 different domain extensions and specialty TLDS. Promotions are being updated daily, and you are invited to visit us anytime at www.epik.com/blackfriday to take advantage of the price reductions.

If there is anything additionally we can be of assistance with, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our premium services team has earned a legendary reputation for our outbound sales strategies, and we are now the #1 escrow company in the world for crypto-based purchases of premium domain names. From ultra-resilient hosting, to sales negotiations and high quality marketplace solutions, we are happy to help however we may be called.

Have a blessed Friday, and thank you for making our world a better place to live in.

Yours faithfully,



Robert Davis | SVP Strategy & Communications

a: Epik Premium Services | WA | United States
e: [email protected] | w: www.epik.com
p: +1.815.429.3254 | c: +1.815.780.0189
Twitter: EpikDotCom | Facebook: EpikDotCom

 

Maybe , just maybe , Epik team deserves a second chance, @Joe Styler

 

https://www.epik.com/blog/afternic

GoDaddy Arrogance on Full Display
An Inside Look into the Anti-Competitive Practices of a Monopoly

epik has insulted afternic (GoGreedy) and accused of monopoly how could them get a second chance

 

Hope they will re-concile for the greater good of the industry.. two big players not collaborating with each other is not good for the industry ,specially for domainers.

Definitely those who care about the domaining industry certainly need to encourage them to collaborate with each other. Let's hope we will see a day where Afternic reconsider their decision.

 

Godaddy is the 800 lb. gorilla they just acquired ponyt for $320M cash, at this point they can go in it all alone, they don't need anybody, they are self sustaining throughout.

 

Simple Lesson:

I see businesses with political signs or billboards outside their businesses supporting certain candidates. Why?

Why potentially lose 50% of your customers or business relationships over your own personal beliefs?
Why?

Well, why not??? Why cant I?

Well, here is good example of losing business and relationships. Keep your own private beliefs out of your business.....big or small.

 

GoDaddy has never been a go-to place for me ever since I started domaining. I've never registered even a single domain on that platform and don't see myself doing so in the nearest future. I detest the platform (to say the least) because of what I perceived as malpractices going on there. Dubious pricing, snooping on customer's domain searches, deceptive marketing, dubious products and add-ons, etc. Those are unacceptable to me.

Let's face it, Afternic/GoDaddy is only selling your domains to the leads it generates, and taking 15-20% in the process. They ain't giving you any jack. 74million monthly traffic across networks shared between 10million listed domains are just 7.4 on average per domain. So, where's the traffic?

While it's very good to give your domains as many exposures as it can get, someone who needs your domain will locate it and make efforts to acquire it, even if it's not listed for sale.

I hate a bully and GoDaddy and their handlers are clearly the bullies in this regard. You may call it conspiracy theory or anything else you want but these people are clearly out to silence and diminish any individual or organization that dares to disagree with their views and agenda. But that's a topic for another day.

Remember that the notice did not indicate nor imply any violation on the side of Epik. It simply reads like - we want you out of our platform because we don't like you. That's not a good thing. It's not everything about Epik that I like, perhaps not even up to 60%. But they've done a lot to try and align with the Domainers than any and all the registrars combined. I see their marketplace and sales becoming the best in the nearest future with little more tweaks. They're almost there.

Why abandone a growing company in favour of a bully who thinks they own the world and therefore, doesn't own anyone any explanation?

The decision you make is entirely yours and you're right about it but I don't think I'm moving out of Epik for now.

 

Got this in today, for those interested:

Regarding Afternic Faster Transfer and Epik’s Commitment to Protecting our Customers:

On November 6, 2020, GoDaddy sent an anonymous letter stating they were terminating the Fast Transfer option for Epik customers as of January 5th, 2021. As far as we are aware, this action has not been rescinded.

We believe there were several factors involved, including our reports of repeated Afternic security issues with their platform harming both registrars and domain investors who trusted them. Instead of handling it graciously and truthfully, they issued a letter to Epik stating they would simply terminate services to hide their own liabilities, with the mandate that we were to tell no one. They then proceeded to email our customers to state they were shutting off fast transfer with no mention of the reasons why, or the conversations we were already having with their technical team. We believe that other registrars may also be similarly affected in the coming months. This level of arrogance and technical negligence from GoDaddy is becoming a pattern.

GoDaddy's “win at any cost” policies in pursuit of monopoly status may be the single greatest threat our industry faces. At the same time, their actions help draw attention to the care and processes that Epik uses to protect its own valued customers. There are few major domain investors that utilize Afternic for their fast transfer service. They may list their names to receive offers to take advantage of search results across GoDaddy’s partnership network, but empowering Afternic with the authority to instantly take names is not seen as an advantage for those holding high value names. In fact, it has been leading to regular instances where false approvals put investors at risk to lose valuable domains. In our experience, even with reasonable question or reports of non-approval, GoDaddy outright refuses to take any corrective action. In which case, the actual owner is left at a loss with zero options for recovery.

The key difference is that with standard listings, the owner may have some capacity to approve or participate in the transfer process and transaction. With Fast Transfer, GoDaddy has the authority to sell and process the name instantly without any interaction by the registrant. In most cases, this simply means that they have a technical permission to automatically process and complete transfers. The streamlined transfer contributes very little to added market exposure. The significant problem we saw, was that Afternic had just recently advised that they no longer had the ability to remove fraudulent fast transfer approvals that were never authorized. They were suggesting to customers with portfolios of 50,000 names and more to simply delete all of their listings. In addition, a good portion of their listed inventory was found to be grossly outdated, and/or was never authorized by current owners to be sold in the first place. From our experience, GoDaddy is having significant technical difficulties and security vulnerabilities, even as several individuals in the industry continually try to hide or downplay them. In some cases, users cannot even interact with their platform without restricting access to a specific Chrome version running in incognito mode. These issues are also reflected in their falling service levels, recent hacks, security problems, and multiple issues that they are constantly adapting for public optics in damage control mode.

GoDaddy's decision follows a string of anticompetitive actions and unusual market behavior now confirmed to be under FTC and DOJ review within their respective antitrust divisions. We’ve seen GoDaddy’s stance grow to be extremely aggressive against a number of companies, most who have been afraid to say anything at the risk of GoDaddy retaliation. This has not slowed Epik, as we are migrating record numbers of portfolios, bringing thousands of the rarest domains to Epik from GoDaddy for premium representation, as GoDaddy is struggling even to keep some of their systems running. You can see a partial summary of issues linked below, that also addresses the start of anticompetitive issues we have lodged with the Federal Trade Commission. Over the years, both internally and privately, we have had many conversations with GoDaddy executives and employees. Many are beyond fed up with the ham-fisted decision making from GoDaddy's legal team, along with their false narrative propagation from outside influencers. Even with a record share price and market capitalization post one of the most challenging years in memory, their "Open We Stand" propaganda translated to significant job reductions, manipulative phishing campaigns reducing trust of employees, falsehoods regarding price increases, and several heinous decisions designed to marginalize and harm the opportunities for others in this industry. In our direct experience, they care more about dividend strategies than they do this industry, their customers, and even their own staff members. It is beyond disgraceful, and real change is needed.

www.epik.com/afternic
www.epik.com/godaddy

We understand the incredible tenacity and patience that domain investing sometimes requires, and we want you to know that we will never take your business for granted. We value each and every one of you, and will go out of our way to do whatever we can to help stimulate and bring new opportunities for those who choose to work with us. This is not just a heading on a quarterly report, but the lifestyle that our grateful team and fellow staff members here choose to live by. It gives us incredible pleasure to watch people who dare to dream help co-create new realities and abundance for others. Buying and selling domain names can be an amazing and extraordinary journey, and we are thankful for the experiences and friendships the path constantly allows.

With this in mind, all of us here wish you the best of good fortune, great health, and prosperity in your adventures for 2021. Thank you again for your wonderful ideas, your amazing support, and helping to make Epik a vibrant home for both innovation and new opportunities.

Happy New Year,

 

Wow, some pretty serious stuff about GoDaddy at https://www.epik.com/blog/godaddy:

"Everyone is on drugs, office always smells like pot"
"Can you say Bolier Room?"

Would be nice to know where Epik got these employee statements from. I guess they are all over the internet, but they should state their sources anyway.